Global challenges visualized in new artwork donated to SSE

2015-11-06

The new artwork, "Pirate Lane" from 2007 by Clay Ketter, is part of his series Gulf Coast Slabs. This series of photographs registers the foundations of homes which were destroyed by a natural disaster of enormous scale, the hurricane Katrina.

Katrina is one of the most widely discussed natural disasters in the last decade, with unimaginable consequences for the people living in this part of the world. It raised numerous questions concerning the rapid climate changes as well as social-political issues. Shortly after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of Mississippi in 2005, Clay Ketter read about the devastation and decided to visit the area. The titles given to the art works are the street names and numbers, sometimes even the names of the previous occupants, providing each work with a defined place.

"Our new mandatory track for SSE’s bachelor students is called Global Challenges and will be introduced from August 2016. It will focus around the biggest sustainability challenges of our time. I think that "Pirate Lane" illustrates how crucial we think it is to make our students aware of the global challenges we face"​, says Lars Strannegård, president of SSE.

Clay Ketter was born 1961 in Brunwick, Maine. His artistic career originates in Sweden, which has been his home since the late 1980’s, while his work has been exhibited in numerous museums, art institutions and galleries around the world.

The artwork (178 x 315 cm) can be seen in the corridor outside the President’s Office and has been donated to SSE by Alumnus Lars Förberg and Lena Förberg in cooperation with Alumnus Cecilia Hillström. Clay Ketter is represented by Cecilia Hillström Gallery in Stockholm